Pumki
by Cabba
Summary: Normal doesn't exist in this world. That's because there aren't any coincidences. They were destined to meet him. He isn't normal. It doesn't matter, 'cause nobody is. Everyone is unique in their own beautiful way. That's what makes them stand out.
1. Pumpkin

**I just wanted this out. I can so see Harry and Percy as brothers!**

**Slight AU due to difference in Time. Gabe had Sally and Percy move to London with a **

**Disclaimer: I neither own **_**The Harry Potter**_** nor **_**The Percy Jackson**_** series. They belong to JKR and RR, respectively. (If you don't know who they are, I can't help you.)**

Sally Jackson pushed her sweaty hair out of her face and plopped down onto the ground. The mud caked her old jeans but she didn't mind. She had just finished planting three saplings in the front garden of their new house. Her mind reeled. She still couldn't believe that Gabe had _won _an all expense cruise trip across the Atlantic. She couldn't believe that he had actually bought a raffle ticket instead of spending the money on useless drinks. She couldn't believe that Gabe would think of moving to London. To No. 3, Privet Drive, Surrey. She couldn't believe that he accidently _lost_ the return tickets. She couldn't help but think of sulfurous thoughts of that… creature. No way would he ever do anything like that.

She looked up and thought, _Poseidon_. (No. **3**, Privet Drive. That is no coincidence.)

He would've wanted her to move across the ocean after the last monster attack on Percy. Percy wasn't even two and she was quite tired. I small chuckle escaped her lips. She craned to see Percy on the porch of the house. He kept scribbling with crayons on a piece of paper. He was simply adorable. Large dark blue-green eyes that shined bright, black hair that seemed to obey only his blue baby brush and that charming, heart melting grin of his he would give her everyday as if saying _Thank you_.

Who would want to hurt someone so little? He didn't do anything offensive to anyone except to Gabe when he made that glass of wine shatter in his hand, months ago. Or when he caused the fountain to explode onto one of the monsters a few months ago.

He was too powerful. She was pretty sure that England didn't hold many dangers as America did. A few years of calm and normal lives before they had to go back. They would have to. It was his destiny.

Darn Fates!

Sally pushed her small spade into the ground with more force than necessary. The blade hit one of her saplings and she heard a gasp behind her. She spun around whipping out a knife which glinted in a royal brown shade to face… a toddler?

For a moment, Sally thought that it was Percy. But why would Percy wear old, loose clothes? Percy most certainly did not have his hair sticking up everywhere and he absolutely did not have bright green eyes. Sally blinked and realized it was someone else.

"Oh! Hello." She said smiling. She dropped her spade and wiped her hands on her old shirt. The boy looked at her almost fearful. His eyes told her that he viewed her like a predator.

"It's alright. I won't hurt you." Sally said slowly. The boy looked at the broken sapling and then back at her. He looked at Percy scratching away on the paper and then back to Sally, eyes darting as if which situation to assess. The plant in need, the stranger woman or the weird boy doing something with no fruit. He decided to go with the first.

The boy inched forward, keeping his eyes trained on Sally's face locking her gaze with his. For a baby, the intensity was shocking. Sally tried to remember to breathe. This boy was no ordinary being. But he most certainly wasn't a monster.

He child kneeled on the moist ground and cupped his tiny palms around the base of the chopped plant. A space of a heart-beat passed and then the plant shivered. The leaves raised by themselves, the plant grew two inches in height and then drooped to the ground wriggling around a bit. An orange bud-like _thing _appeared atthe base of one of the stems and it grew into a large orange fruit about the size of the child's head. A pumpkin. The boy immediately snatched his hands away and then stared at Sally as if waiting for her verdict.

Sally was in no condition to give one. She stared at the now four feet long plant, the fruit that grew in no less than ten seconds and then at the boy. She realized with a jolt that he was waiting for her response in fear.

"Thank you." She whispered after going through many possibilities of what to say to calm him down. It worked. His tense shoulders relaxed and he let out a breathe.

Alright. Maybe he's a son of a Plant God? That seemed stupid in her head for some reason. There was Demeter, the Goddess of the Harvest. There was Pompona, the Goddess of Plenty. Neither of them seemed like the mother of the child in front of her.

"Mama?" A small voice said behind her. She turned her head and saw Percy. Her son was holding the paper he had used. He stared at the boy and smiled. The boy didn't smile back. Percy looked at the fruit on the ground and then back at the boy. Sally took the paper he was holding and saw a very rough sketch of an abstract painting. Colours thrown everywhere across the paper. There wasn't a spot of off-white the paper had been previously.

"It's lovely." Sally said looking at Percy. But he stared at the boy who was six feet across from them and said, "Pumki."

Sally blinked. The boy didn't react.

"What did you say, Pepe?" Sally asked her son touching his shoulder. Percy pointed at the boy and then at the fruit and said again, "Pumki."

That cleared everything up.

Sally giggled and then looked at the boy, "So, what's your name?" the boy didn't answer. She leaned forward and said, "Can you hear me?" She wondered if the boy was deaf. He was so silent. It made her helpless to look at him and realize that he might not be able to listen to sounds of everything around him.

The boy nodded. Okay, he wasn't deaf.

"Can you speak? What's your name?" The boy looked at her, cocked his head and said, "Pumki."

His accent had a bit of formality to it. She hadn't realized that even children could pull off the accents of their countries. He most certainly was British. And for some reason, she understood what he said.

"Pumpkin?" She asked. The boy and Percy both said at the same time, "Pumki!"

"Well, if you're not going to say your name, I'll call you Pumpkin." She said. When she said things like that to Percy, she got whatever he was hiding from her, by making him laugh. It was simple. Say something incomprehensible or outrageous that the other party can't understand. Works every time.

The boy's eyes grew large. His lips twitched and he giggled. Two dimples appeared on his cheeks as his lips widened. Sally felt proud. 'Pumpkin' walked forward and smiled at Sally and Percy. She held out her hand, took his softly and shook it. 'Pumpkin felt confused at first and looked at his hand as if she had given him something. Percy laughed and shook his hand too, "Hi Pumki! Me Pepe!"

The child looked at Percy, almost amused and repeated, "Pepe." Sally couldn't help but smile. _Our first friend._

**Seems too weird? Well, tell me what you think of it. It's a one-shot, but it's based on your response. So respond!**

**I may probably extend this side-by side to 'The Lost Second.' Stick around!**

**Cabba.**


	2. When you hurt

**Thanks so much guys for your reviews! 4 of them already along with 4 follows and 5 fav requests!**

**Thanks Amme Productions!**

**This is not going to be a one-shot. The story'll last for about 5-7 chapters. No more than ten. **

**Disclaimer: I neither own **_**The Harry Potter**_** nor **_**The Percy Jackson**_** series. They belong to JKR and RR, respectively.**

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"Who has the most beautiful and shiny hair?" Sally asked as she laid down Percy's hair brush.

"Mama!" Percy cried looking at her reflection in the mirror he was facing. Sally laughed and kissed his head. "My silly Pepe." Percy grinned at her, but his attention was diverted as the door-bell rang. "Phone?" he asked. Sally put him on the ground, "No honey. Someone's at the door."

She went into the hall room and looked through the peephole. She couldn't see anyone. She tensed and withdrew her bronze knife she always kept on her person. Gripping the door knob, she slowly unlocked the bolts and swung it open.

She still couldn't see anyone. Could monsters turn invisible? She hoped not.

There was a tug on her pants and she looked down to see Harry. Pumpkin, actually, but his real name was Harry Potter. She still called him Pumpkin, though. Harry's eyes were wide as he stared at the unusually long knife.

"What that?" Harry asked. Sally placed back behind her back. It was a very bad place to keep such a sharp blade, but since she was mortal, the blade would never touch or hurt her. She could grip the handle though.

"Nothing. Hi, Pumpkin." She picked him up and threw him into the air and he laughed. She smiled. Sally loved his dimples. He was too cute. "Pumpkin, how did you ring the doorbell?" Harry just shrugged and he brought out his hand which was behind his back since she had opened the door. Sally stared in awe.

A lovely lilac coloured flower laid in his palm. The flower was small and had five petals. The short stalk had a few tiny green leaves and the end had small roots with some mud clinging to it. There were water droplets on the leaves and roots and petals. They shone like dew drops and made the small plant look all the more lovely to look at.

"It' s beautiful, Pumpkin!"Sally gushed, taking the flower. She didn't know what type it was; she'd find that out later.

"Wow!" Percy's voice floated into the living room. "Flowa!"

"Flow-er." Sally corrected him putting Harry down. Percy frowned and then said, "Flow-errrr." He elongated the last syllable.

"Good." She ruffled his hair and went into the kitchen to search for a good container to put the flower in. She didn't have any vases, but she wanted to have it indoors.

"So what do you want to do today?" Sally asked once she found a tall glass thin vessel ( a free gift from the cruise trip, she had no idea what it was for) and put the flower in along with some water.

"Pelay." Harry suggested meekly. Sally, confused, asked, "Play?" He nodded.

Sally thought and her eyes rested on his messy hair. "Tell you what? I'll brush Pumpkin's hair while you two decide what game, alright?"

The boys nodded and Percy grabbed Harry's hand and ran into his room. Luckily, it was not up the stairs like hers and Gabe. An involuntary shudder passed through her. She was just working up enough guts to face monsters but couldn't put her…husband in his right place? Life wasn't fair at all.

Sally walked into Percy's bedroom where he was trying to brush Harry's hair. Trying.

"Hurts." Harry mumbled. Percy looked apologetic, "Sowwy ." Sally sighed. When she was young, she too couldn't pronounce syllables with 'r' in them. Kim had the same problem. Sally stared at the photo frame on the table near the bed. It was a photo taken when Percy was a few months old. He was grinning, showing off his gums to the camera while there were two women behind him, hugging. Sally and Kimberly Jackson. Her little sister.

"Mama?" Percy brought her out of her thoughts. He and Harry were staring up at her. Sally knew that she was probably looking miserable. She sat down beside them and Harry patted her knee. "Okay?" he asked. Sally forced herself to smile, "Yes, Mama's okay." She took a deep breathe and continued, "Do you know who that is, Pumpkin?" Harry shook his head.

Sally took the brush from Percy and started brushing Harry's hair. Percy went to Harry's said and laid on his stomach and stared into the mirror at his mother's reflection. Sally told Harry to face the mirror while she opened the window to let the morning light fill into the room fully. With the three of them facing the mirror and looking into each others' reflections, Sally started talking.

"I had a little sister, you know? Her name was Kimmy. She was two years younger than me. She was quiet and a little indoorsy. I was the rambunctious girl. Do you know how many boyfriends I had in high-school?" Sally chuckled. She pulled Harry's hair by the brush, starting from down to remove small tangles. "We lived with our uncle. He wasn't very nice. We didn't want to stay with him, so the moment I turned 18, we moved to the city of New York. That place is the epitome of urban development! We had family money, but my uncle was wasting it, so we saved what we could and left. We were doing alright. Every summer we went to a beach called Montauk. A beautiful place. You'd love it, Pumpkin. The owner of the cabins on the beach know us now. They always pull strings to try to get us a good cabin. We were in cabin 6 that summer, when I met him." Sally stared at Percy's reflection in the mirror. She realized that she had been combing on one side of Harry's head and shifted to the other.

"Your father, Pepe." Percy looked more attentive now. Sally pushed the bangs from Harry's forehead and combed them backwards. "He was like no other person I've met. He was just…dazzling. He was beautiful. Not hot or anything, beautiful is the word. But hot too." She added as an afterthought. Then, realizing that she was in the presence of two toddlers, she immediately continued, "Kim wasn't so sure of him, but I was in love. I didn't listen to her. Now I'm glad I didn't. That's the only time I didn't listen to her.

"He had to leave though. I hoped he'd be back. But he never came back. But he gave something as good as himself. He gave me you, Pepe." Sally placed down the brush and put an arm around Percy's shoulder bringing him into a hug. Then, she wasn't sure why, she brought Harry into the hug too.

"Group hugs were Kim's favourite. When you're down, just hug your friend, alright?" The boys nodded. Sally grinned at them and then something caught her attention.

"Pumpkin, what's that on your head?"

Harry's hand flew to his forehead now unconcealed from his hair. His scar stood out like a beacon. Sally gasped. She pried his hands away and gazed at it. It looked like it was several days fresh. Black and sharp against his skin. The shape was strange though. Like a lightning bolt.

"How did you get this?" She asked. Percy leaned in to look at it and Harry leaned back, his movement almost synchronized. "Pepe." Sally warned. "Don't scare him. Pumpkin, does it hurt? Do you need ice?" Harry shook his head furiously. Sally sighed.

She lifted the boys and put them down and got off the bed. While arranging the sheets, she said, "If it hurts tell your mother, alright?"

Harry looked up at her back and said, "No."

Sally spun around shocked, "What?"

"No Mummy." He said again. Sally felt confused, "You live next door, right?" Harry nodded. She asked, "That black-haired woman isn't your mother?" Harry shook his head.

"Is she your aunt?" Harry nodded. Sally looked at him. "What about your daddy?" Harry shook his head. She urged herself not to look with pity. No one would like that. "Okay, you tell your aunty, got it?"

Harry's eyes widened. He shook his head. Sally blinked, "Why not?"

"Angery." Harry said slowly. Sally stared at him for a few long moments and said slowly, "She'll be angry if you complain?"

"Uh huh."

Sally breathed in deeply and released it, her nostrils flaring. She didn't like the sound of this. "Pumpkin, why don't you wear better clothes? Don't they give you?" Harry actually looked confused at the questions. "Like Dudley?" He asked.

"Dudley's your cousin right? Yes, like him."

Harry stared at Sally's face still confused. Her face was steadily turning red. "Pumpkin, do they even treat you like family?" Harry didn't answer.

Percy tugged on his mother's shirt and said, "Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig wods."

Sally mentally face-palmed. The child was about a year old and she was asking such questions. No wonder he wasn't answering. He probably didn't know what was wrong. How could anyone just ignore someone in their own family.

She bent down to whisper to Harry, "When it hurts, when you hurt, I'll make it go away. You hear me, Pumpkin?"

Harry nodded.

Sally didn't hesitate when she bent to kiss his head.

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**Was it alright? I hope it was. I liked it. What about you?**

**Cabba.**


	3. Good Flowa

**Ten reviews! 13 alerts! 9 favs! 1 community! My thanks to (anon)**_**trivia101**_**, **_**greekfreak101**_**, (anon)**_**Guest**_**, **_**percyjacksonfan135**_**, **_**CJ Snow**_** and the others who have re-reviewed and put this on story alert. Thanks **_**Pyrokitsune**_** for putting my baby in your community '**_**My many Favorites**_**.'**

**I love you! Seriously, guys, I didn't think so many of you would take an interest in the story. I loved the idea Harry having someone close while he grew up. Looks like we're all of one mind!**

**You didn't expect this chapter did ya? Surprise! I'm free 'write' now. Get it?**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own PJO or HP series. RR and JKR do. OMG right?**

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Percy stumbled a little as he reached out to grab Sally's hand. Sally held the gift wrapped box in her left hand and took Percy's outstretched palm before he tumbled with excitement. It had been a week since Harry had entered their lives. Six flowers lay in that glass vessel...thing (no other word for it.) A lily, rose, tulip, jasmine, daisy and a carnation. Were they even in the season? Whatever Harry could do with the plants, flowers and trees, it wasn't just extraordinary, it was beautiful. The way he would concentrate when he did…his thing with them. It was like magic.

It probably was. Who knows what else this world hid from the mortals?

Releasing a deep breathe, she felt that this wasn't a good idea. She had talked to other people in the area and most of the women and wives had nothing but good to say about the Dursleys. How prim, proper and perfect they were. They even had a small boy who was image of the model son, it seemed. Everything was always in excellent condition anytime someone visited them. They had actually one an award which was something like, '_House of the Year_'.

Another thing, Sally found, out was that this neighbourhood loved the gossips and scandals that went around the families. Was this high-school or something?

Just as she crossed from the pavement into the area of House no. 4, Privet Drive, she felt something wash over them. She came to a stop and Percy went a few steps forward before Sally's hand pulled him back.

Sally turned around. She couldn't see anything. Immediately, she lifted Percy onto her hip on her right. Holding the gift in her right hand, she stretched her left. There it was again! There was something invisible. Strong. Her fingers trembled against it. It felt like a curtain made out of liquid. She tried to grab it, but couldn't. Dropping her hand, she took one step closer to it. She could feel it near her face. There was a faint vibe of something powerful. She gasped and spun around to stare at the house.

It was a barrier. A physical one. Yet she crossed through it with ease.

It must be to keep someone specific out of this property. It was protecting the four people who lived inside the house. Sally felt wary. They were probably not mortal. Maybe there was a secret here too, in Britain. She had half a mind to go back to her house, when the door opened and a thin woman came out, her sharp eyes staring at Sally.

"Yes?"

Sally cleared her throat, "Hello, I'm Sally Jackson. I just moved in-"

The woman threw open her door with a wide smile and walked almost happily to Sally. "I've heard all about you! I was actually waiting for you to get settled in before introducing myself. I myself felt nervous moving into such a lovely and huge place. But don't worry. We're going to be good friends! This is a very safe neighbourhood, by the way. Not a speck of danger! Atleast, not for the past five years!"

She laughed as if she had made an excellent joke."I'm Petunia Dursley. I think you've already heard of me. Wilma told me about you, yesterday. She's such a chatter box! And who is this little person? Aren't you just adorable? Come in! I'll make you a cup of tea, Sally."

No prizes for who's the Gossip Queen in this area.

"Sit down and make yourself at home. What would your son like? Some biscuits? I have Brittania…"

Percy shook his head, frightened of the lady who spoke without an intake of breathe.

"Percy's a little shy of strangers. He doesn't want anything, now. But he did pick this out for you." Sally said before Petunia opened her mouth. She gave the gift to the latter who seemed quite flattered, "Oh, you shouldn't have! Thank you!" Petunia went into the kitchen and Sally bent down to whisper to Percy.

"Look for Pumpkin. Don't disturb anyone else and be careful up the stairs." Percy nodded and slunk into hall room while Sally went into the kitchen. Being a demi-god, Percy could understand his mother when she said words he could comprehend – Pumpkin, disturb, careful, stairs.

"Would like two or three sugar cubes in your tea?" Petunia asked. Sally smiled, "Two please. I noticed that you have your garden in a fresh condition. It's really good. How do you do it?"

Petunia looked haughty when she said, "It's about having a green thumb and knowing how to do what. During the summers, you have to save your water more for the plants and for yourself. There ways to trap water in the plants for a longer time…"

…..

Percy tip-toed into the dining room and looked under the table. No Pumpkins. Only chairs. If Percy was in a house like this where everything was shiny, he'd crawl into a small place to escape the gleaming stuff. Maybe Harry had done the same. Maybe he had to play peek-a-boo to find him.

No, Percy wasn't a baby anymore. He was more than a year old. He'd play peek-a-boo only with his mother. He walked into another room where the door was open by a few inches. He peeped inside to see a crib lots and lots of stuffed toys and many other things he hadn't seen before. It's seemed really bright. Harry wasn't exactly like this. Then again, he didn't design the rooms.

"Pepe!" A hushed whisper reached Percy's ears. He spun around to see no one. Closing the door quietly, Percy went into the hall way. He stood there for a few seconds before looking at the cupboard under the stairs. They had one in their house too. Sally kept some old clothes there in case she had to clean dirty things.

"Pumki?" Percy whispered. He looked down to see some bolt thing. He knew that it should be pulled if a door had to be open. He pulled at it. It budged and he gave a stronger pull. The bolt came out and Percy tripped and fell backwards as the door opened. A disheveled Harry climbed out to see his one and only friend on the ground, confused as to why he had landed there. Harry looked pale. His sin was dull like it hadn' gotten any light, his hair looked like a rat's mess. Percy sprang up to his feet. He didn't cry. Sure it had hurt, but why should he cry and make a big fuss out of it. Gabe would call him a cry baby again and whatever that meant, he didn't like it.

Harry stared at him, his eyes filled with tears. They started spilling down his cheeks. Harry sat down with a 'plomp' and weeped as silently he could. Percy rushed to him, but didn't know what to do. He looked inside the cupboard to see a small mattress stuffed in, a shapeless bed sheet and a small bottle of water. There was a light bulb in one corner and a rose petal at the foot of the mattress.

"Shh. It okay. Pepe here." Percy patted Harry's shoulder. Harry extended his right arm to show him a purple discoloration above the elbow. Like someone had grabbed him hard. Percy knew this from when Gabe had dragged him out of the house one day before they came here, when Sally had stepped out to get some stupid food for him. He hated Gabe since that day.

Percy didn't touch it. He knew that it would hurt. Instead he did something his mother would be proud of. He hugged Harry carefully. Harry stiffened and then bent his head on Percy's shoulder.

They stayed like that for some time until Percy felt his shirt wet. Like when he would cry on Sally's shoulder and get her top wet with tears. Sally wouldn't get irritated with him. So he let Harry spoil his shirt until the boy stopped shivering. Then Percy got a brilliant idea. Why hadn't he thought of it before!

He peeled out of the other boy's arms. Harry's eyes were red as he wiped out the wetness. Percy pulled on his arm making him cry out in pain. "Sowwy!"Percy whispered and patted Harry's head as the latter started to sob again. The demi-god looked into the kitchen to see his mother and that lady still talking. Didn't that lady know what a full stop was? (Percy did either, but that wasn't the point.)

He led the wizard out of the house through the dining room which opened out into the backyard. There were enough plants to do the trick. Percy took Harry to a huge plant with a lot of flower buds on it.

"Sit." He said and Harry sat next the base of the plants sniffling. Percy kneeled down and waited. Nothing happened. Percy frowned and carefully took Harry's injured arm and held it close to the plant. Nothing happened.

"Pwease. I give you cookie. Mama's cookie." Percy said coaxing it. Harry started crying again. Percy desperately tried to calm him down and looked into the dining room. No, they probably couldn't hear it.

Something touched Percy's arms and he yanked it back and stared at what was happening. The plant's thin tendrils were wrapping themselves around Harry's arm. A few of them wiped out his tears and smoothened down his hair. Harry had stopped crying and started giggling, "Tickles!"

The air shimmered like a heat wave and the vines twisted loose going back into the plant. Harry grinned and waved, "Bye!" They stared at his hand. The bruise was gone, and the colour looked healthy, not the sickly yellow. In fact the health colour was spreading throughout Harry's skin, over his arms, legs and face. His hair looked fresh like it was dried after a bath. His eyes sparkled as he clapped with delight.

"Good flowa." Percy said proud that his idea worked. Harry said, "Flow-er." Percy stuck out his tongue at Harry as an answer.

Harry looked confused. Then they heard the conversation between the two woman becoming louder. Harry felt panic he ran into the dining room and hid under the table. Percy followed him. He knew this would've been one of Harry's hiding places! The ladies went into the backyard garden.

"Hibiscus is one of the finest, in my humble opinion." Petunia told Sally.

Percy stared at them and turned around to see Harry run into the hallway. Percy ran too and saw Harry go into the cupboard. He gestured Percy to close it like before. Percy hesitated. Harry sent a pleading look and Percy closed the door and bolted it. "Bye." He whispered and ran around to sit on the first step of the staircase just as Sally and Petunia came into the hallway.

"So lovely of you to come. Next time, visit us when my Duddy is home. He and Percy will be the best of friends!" Petunia exclaimed. Sally smiled at her. It looked like one of those smiles she'd always give Gabe. "I have no doubt about it."

"There you are Percy! Where did you go off to?" Petunia asked wiggling her finger at him in mock sternness. Percy blinked. Sally laughed and said, "He's always confused. He doesn't touch anything. Don't worry, Petunia. We'll come next time Dudley's here."

"It's a date!" Petunia said and laughed. Sally smiled weakly and picked up Percy. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye, Sally." Petunia waved and closed the door. She glared at the cupboard and then went into the kitchen, _Hm! That woman is far too young for a child and a husband. They must have run away from the States. Only explanation…_

Sally fumed as she walked into their pathway. "She's worse than Edla Marker from junior high school. She doesn't know where or when to put the full stop!" Percy nodded importantly.

"Did you find Pumpkin?" Percy nodded.

"Was he okay?" Percy nodded again.

"Were you careful?" Percy nodded yet again.

"Good. Tomorrow, 'The Trojan gift'. Got that?" Sally asked closing the door. Percy looked confused. "The next step." Sally explained.

Percy stared at her and then remembered something, "Mama make cookie?"

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**I tried to get this uploaded today, but I couldn't login. So the chap's about a few hours late. But it's more than 2000 words. That's a compensation, right? What do you think?**

**Cabba.**


	4. The Deal

**I'm so sorry that this came in so late. **_**The Lost Second**_** will be uploaded in a few hours.**

**Thanks for reviewing, following and favouriting (is that a word?) my story. **_**c im am a dragon and Lientjuhh , **_**congratulations for coming across this story!**

**Disclaimer : I don't own the Percy Jackson or Harry Potter series. **

…

Everyday Sally went to No. 4 Privet Drive and everyday Percy would sneak food to Harry. Everyday Sally would learn more about the Dursleys and everyday Percy would understand Harry's no-trust complex.

The Dursleys were the most normal and boring people the Jacksons had ever met. Vernon was a huge and bulky figure who would be polite in front of them but Sally had seen him glare at the cupboard from time to time. Petunia would talk forever and more under the pretext that Sally wanted to listen forever and more. Dudley was their 'Frankenstein'. At two years old, he would do his best to ruin the plants, furniture, glass ware and other stuff and then pinned it on Harry.

Sally didn't want to believe that Harry had to stay in the cupboard everyday as if it was his room.

This 'family' was destroying the two young boys. It made Sally's blood boil when she saw through her window, how Petunia would grin, coddle and hug Dudley while she would either scream or shun Harry for just staring at things. Harry wasn't staring. He was observing. He'd listen to sounds, not just hear. He would look up at the sky as if they held secrets from him. He would look at the mud on the ground and press his hands to it. Making imprints and making sure that he left something behind in this world, if he were to go.

Atleast that was what Sally had understood when he would stare at everything. His eyes knew hurt because he felt it everyday. His skin would show physical signs of exhaustion from mistreatment because he went through it everyday. His expression would show something akin to death.

That was what Sally feared the most. It was like he came from somewhere, where pain and misery had flourished.

No one year old should have such feelings. With this thought and Harry's face in her mind, she made a deal with Petunia. She lied.

Sally said that Percy was adopted. It wasn't that hard to pull off. Percy, even as a baby, looked much more like Poseidon, God of the Seas. Sure, Sally and Percy had the same cheek-bone structure, but the rest were Poseidon's. She couldn't use the Mist to blank-out the Dursley's brains (or what was left of it) and take Harry away. So this was the next option.

She would train Harry to be a model student in school. With her teaching, he could skip a couple of grades, cost less to the Dursleys and hopefully leave them sooner than expected. They never told Sally of his birth. Sally didn't care. Harry deserved a life.

The deal was actually plain idiotic. What family would let a new neighbor, take their child and teach him the ways of life; virtually raising him as her own? Where he would come for breakfast, lunch, dinner and occasional naps?

The Dursleys.

As she carried Harry, who was asleep on her shoulder, towards her new home, she was glad that Gabe wasn't there. It was close to ten in the night and Percy should be asleep if he wasn't bouncing in his crib waiting impatiently for his (for all intents and purposes) new brother. An older one at that.

Her heart felt lighter. For once she didn't worry about monsters, prophecies, deaths and out-of-control accidental outburst of water. She had two pairs of eyes that would look at her everyday, with love and trust and that more than just sustained her. It made her life nearly satisfied.


	5. Woven destinies

**19 reviews! I love you guys! (I'm over using that part aren't I?) Thanks so much, OceanLover101! This chapter is longer just for us. I really love this story. I just updated The Lost Second, so why don't you guys look there too?**

**No Gabe's not going to die. Maybe choked, but I'm not that evil to kill Percy's camaoflouge.**

**I'm thinking about Harry's protection. Give some time.**

**Disclaimer: I do not, I repeat, do not own the series of Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. If I did, Harry would have a twin sister, Rosalie Lillian Potter and a cousin, Daniel Jacob Potter. Get it?**

…

The months didn't fly by. They went slowly and Sally savoured every second she spent with the two most adorable boys on the planet. Harry was the most obedient little boy ever possible. He'd never go against Sally and always did his best to help her when she was busy. Sally wasn't working because it wasn't necessary. For now.

Gabe would always leave the house at ten in the morning and come back at ten in the night. His work at some appliance store was only from 12 to 5 p.m. She didn't care what he did unless it was a threat to her and Percy. Harry was safe from that battlefield.

Sally paused in the act of drying the dishes and wondered where they were. She leaned back to see the both of them duck behind the sofa in the living room. Sally smothered her giggles. She didn't understand why they would try to sneak in like a couple of spies to look at half-baked cookies in the oven. Then she remembered the container in which the left-over of the cookie batter remained. Ofcourse!

It seemed silly. It was probable that a decade from now, they would be fighting against monsters fighting for their lives and nothing less. Now, what were they doing? Tip-toeing across the floor towards the kitchen platform.

Her thoughts went south. She couldn't protect them from everything. She had it all figured out. Harry was a son of Demeter who didn't like cereal very much. It was the only explanation she could form. Only valid one, that is.

A Sherlock Holmes quote sprung up in her thoughts, 'If, for a problem, all possible theories are ruled out, then the last theory, however impossible, impractical and unimaginable, is the solution.'

The last theory here was that Harry was from an entirely different dimension. Not a different planet. He didn't feel like an alien. What were the odds of moving across an ocean to meet another demigod as powerful as Percy? Slim to none.

Her thoughts went into time-travel for a few seconds and she shook her head, feeling foolish. Think outside the box, not outside the table. There wasn't a point of time-traveling, that she could see anyway. Sally sighed and kept the last gleaming plate in the dish rack. She removed her apron just as a sound rang throughout the house, _DING_!

The boys' heads popped up from behind the table and they rushed to her.

"Cookie!" Harry squealed. Percy pretended to be stern, "Hot!" Sally laughed and picked them up one by one and placed them on the platform. Harry nearly fell back, but Sally caught him. Harry's sense of balance wasn't as good as it was supposed to be for a kid his age. She hoped it would improve soon.

"Careful." Sally said as she put on mittens and open the oven door and removed two trays from which the heavenly scent of perfect brown chocolate chip cookies lay. Harry and Percy clapped while Sally bowed and placed the trays a healthy distance from them. Taking a few of them on a plastic tray, she blew on the cookies and placed them in front of the boys while saying, "One cookie at a time, alright? Use both hands and don't stuff them in or I'll be feeding you." They didn't like to be fed. Sally felt that was enough as she put the remaining cookies onto a larger plate and then filled up the tray with batter for the next batch, all the while keeping an eye on them. They chewed carefully, their cheeks red and puffed up, their lips like fish as they swallowed each bite.

"How is it?" Sally asked.

They shouted something at once but Sally didn't hear what they said. Partially, because their cheeks were stuffed and partially because, she heard the slamming of the front door.

"SALLY!" A voiced yelled and the woman froze. What was he doing here? She immediately put Harry and Percy down. Percy pulled Harry under the table while Sally brushed off the crumbs and said, "I'm h..here."

Gabriel Ugliano stormed into the kitchen and glared at her.

"Where is he?" He growled. Sally forced herself to look at his black eyes. Kimberly had black eyes. They were so warm and beautiful. Gabe's were just the opposite. Cold and hard and threatening especially now.

"Who?" She asked. Gabe grabbed the tops of her arms and shook her. "I'm not an idiot. I know what you're doing behind my back. You better spit it out or I'll-" Gabe stopped. His head whipped around as he heard a whimper from underneath the table. He swore loudly and pulled Percy from the hiding place and held him high by the back of his shirt. Percy coughed as the shirt was pulled tight against his throat.

"Stop!" Sally cried striking against Gabe's arm. But he pushed her roughly against the marble platform which hit her spine hard. Suddenly, Gabe dropped Percy and caught his throat as if something was choking him. Sally watched in horror as his face turned red and blue. She whipped her head to look at Harry.

Harry had his arms around his legs in a vulnerable position. But the look in his eyes would have made an army run away with their tails in between their legs. The green irises were glowing, his pupil were slits. Like a lion and snake combined.

"Pumpkin, NO!" Sally screamed grabbing Percy and cradling him. Harry's body shuddered as the glow faded and he looked confused at the man whimpering on the ground and at Sally pushing herself against the base of the platform. Percy was crying clutching Sally's hair tightly. What disturbed him the most was Sally's blue eyes filled with tears and fear as she stared at him.

He did it again. Something weird and strange and freaky. Something dangerous. And now she was going to hit him and throw him into the dark place. He didn't want that. He had just wanted to help. The man was hurting her and yelling like his uncle. It made him react defensively.

"Sowwy." Harry said, tears coming in his eyes. He didn't want to go back. He wanted to stay with this nice woman and her son. She reminded him of another nice woman who would look at him like he was the most precious thing the world. That woman had longer hair. Had it been red?

"Shh." Sally said taking Harry into her arms.

Harry tried to wriggle himself out before she could scold him but she kept a firm hold on him.

"I'm not angry. It's alright. It's okay." She whispered and stood up with 2 two year olds on both her hips. She went into the hall room, sat on the couch and leaned back.

"Pepe? Let me see." She pulled back Percy's shirt and saw a red mark around the skin on the front of his neck. She kissed it and then his head. Harry got himself out of Sally's hold and pointed at the flower vase on the small glass table.

_Water_, Sally thought. Of course! She reached out for the vase and Harry grabbed the lily from it. He pressed the flower to Percy's neck. It was the least he could do after showing his '_freaky stuff_' as Uncle Vernon would call it.

Sally stared at him and said, "Pumpkin, what ar-" the words died in her throat. Harry had removed the flower, kissed the petals and placed it back in the vase. The mark was gone.

Sally was a very funny looking statue. Percy in her one hand and a flower vase in her other with Harry on her lap.

Percy stopped sniffling and giggled at his mother's expression. Harry tried not to smile but gave up. Sally came back to her senses when she heard a DING!

The cookies! Putting Percy one the couch she hurried to the oven and somehow took out the tray with the mittens. A lot of giggling greeted her as she sat down and looked at Harry who sobered up immediately.

"I'm not angry. I'm surprised. That's all." She said. She turned to look at Gabe out cold on the kitchen floor. She kissed Harry's head. She seemed to be doing that a lot, nowadays.

"The both of you are different. You're unique and that's alright because there's a reason why people are like that. You are not strange. And no matter what I will always love you both." She wasn't sure whether she loved Harry as much as she did her own son, but now she was sure. Looking at his helpless posture, she wanted to be that person who would be there for him. Was that wrong?

The babies looked like they hadn't understood her.

"Promise me that the both of you won't use the maximum of your powers unless I allow you to. Got that?"

That they understood. And she didn't understand how they understood her.

"You will have great destinies", she murmured pulling them into a hug. The Fates probably wanted them to come together. It was probable that The Great Prophecy was about them and not only Percy.

"Woven destinies." She said.

They were quite for a few seconds and suddenly Sally pulled back and stared at them.

"Well, I don't know about woven destinies, but I know that you both now have woven diaper changes. Come on."

…

**I hoped you liked it. Tell me your views and also take a look at my other story, The Lost Second. Stay tuned for more.**

**Cabba.**


	6. Boom!

**Yikes! 25 reviews! 22 favs ! 31 followers! Can't thank you enough!**

_**E J ect, Mythomagic-Champion, The Riptide Writer**_**, (anon) **_**Artemis' Hunters**_**, (anon) **_**Guest**_** – Thanks for the reviews!**

**Thanks '**_**TheMasterOfAllThingsSirius**_**' for adding this story to your community, '**_**Great stories 101'**_

**Remember this is in an Alternate Universe where Wizards and Demigods exist together. So let's assume that Surrey is on the outskirts of the main town and closer to the coast than in the book. Oh, and before I forget, there's a forest behind the first row of Privet Drive houses on the other side of a huge wall built. No big animals, per se…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HP or PJO, for Merlin's sake! **

…

Harry's birthday was on 31st July. Next week. And Sally heard this only when she came back from Missie's Kindergarten Batch with Percy's registration form where she had gone with Petunia who came back with Harry's and Dudley's forms.

They had celebrated Harry's birthday last year along with Percy. Home-made cake was a new thing for the little green-eyed boy.

She knew that Harry wouldn't want a huge fuss for his special day. So she decided to see for any beach site in the coast. She had gone to the library along with the two boys to check on a computer for resorts which would hopefully resemble Montauk.

Demigods and technology didn't go together well and so she hadn't bought a PC in their own home. A fact which Petunia soon found out and wrinkled her nose as she changed the subject during their conversation.

The librarian smiled at Sally as she pointed to the section where the computers where. Harry and Percy stared at wonder at all the huge books which were on the tall shelves as they passed them.

"Alright, the both of you, sit on those beanbags. I got your cars. Don't disturb anyone and play quietly." She said as she gave them a few toy cars to occupy themselves in. They ran to the corner of the huge room and started bouncing on the beanbags. Sally hoped that the bags were strong enough for that.

She opened the Windows Screen, went onto the Desktop and then on Google Chrome. Hermes had invented the internet, right? So it shouldn't hurt her doing this with two demi-gods in the room.

Every few minutes, she would look at them play with the cars, look out the windows, imitate animal sounds quietly and whisper to each other like they kept the world's secrets. Pshh! They were the world's secrets! A few other people would look at them and smile as if approving their innocence.

Sally scrolled down the list of hotel bookings. She didn't want a hotel. A simple cabin. If you knew the right quality resort with cabins, you could get them at cheap prices. She sighed as she changed the page. The only reason, she was doing this because, it would be Harry best experience. Compared to living with the Dursleys (even if it was only during the night), this vacation should be his idea of heaven.

Thank the Gods that the Dursleys were leaving for a month of vacation. They always did that each year by leaving Harry at another woman's house. An old woman who was your average next door Grouchy and Grumbles. Tomorrow, they'd be away, while Harry would play.

Sally took a deep breath and coughed. A smoky smell seemed to be coming from somewhere, probably from the open windows. She saw Percy covering his eyes as counting upto ten. He then jumped up and started looking for Harry. She leaned a bit back and saw Harry under the tables where there were newspapers. He sure loved tables.

Found it! Louis&Sons Resort. They were on the beach closest to Surrey. It was perfect. She could note down the number and call them for reservations. But she could also sign up in their website and make reservations whenever she wanted by the net. Since the Dursleys left every year for a long vacation, then she could take the two boys there every year. A week was good enough. A healthy beach trip once a year would give them good experiences and memories.

After half an hour, the reservations were done and she noted down the id number along with the reservation code. The price was thankfully reasonable and it was a good thing that Gabe had let her go. Grudgingly.

Months ago, it had seemed to Gabe that Sally had been cheating on him. She almost laughed out loud at the thought of Gabe thinking that Harry was a grown-up who'd come whenever he wasn't there.

That was so disturbing on so many levels.

She was about to get up when harry and Percy ran up to her with wide eyes, "Mama? Cannwee go, now?" They grabbed her jeans and tried to pull her out of the room.

"What? What's wrong?" before they could say anything, the smell of smoke suddenly became stronger before sparks started coming from the computer nearest to the bean bags.

Sally reacted on her instinct. She shouted, "DUCK!" and grabbed the two boys behind her Comp table just as the computer exploded. Shards of flaming hardware and glass were strewn across the room and many people were yelling and screaming. Sally opened her eyes to see how bad the wreckage was. The room was filled with smoke. A man was on the ground a few feet from her. She nudged his knee with her toe. "Sir? Can you hear me, sir?" The man groaned and pushed himself up clutching his ears. He looked at her, at the boys and at the other people who were slowly getting up.

"Ouch. Yes, I'm okay. I think. Thanks, ma'am."

A few people came over to them and said, "You alright? Not hurt, right? Christ! That was something. Hey Ben! We got a few here. No, they're okay. Come on." He helped Sally, Percy, Harry and the man up and steered them into the Hall of the huge library. A woman ran upto them, frantic.

"Ma'am, are you alright? Oh my goodness! That was horrible! How did it happen, Jim?" The librarian asked handing Sally a cloth to wipe of the sooth.

"I don't know, Leslie. I think she saw something, though." Jim said looking at Sally. Sally brushed Harry's hair and looked up at them. "I had just stood up from the chair when I saw smoke and sparks coming from one of the old PCs and grabbed at my kids. It was instinct."

Jim cursed and Leslie hit him on the shoulder. "There are children here! I'm so sorry ma'am. Those computers had faulty wiring, that's why they weren't hooked up. I can't understand how it exploded."

She shook her head and then looked at Harry and Percy. "Are you alright? Do you need water?"

The boys shook their heads. Sally sighed, "They're alright. They'll feel better when we reach home. Thank you for your concern." Sally just got up when another guy came running up to them.

"Some bloke's called the fire department. Can you talk to them? There's no fire, just a lot of smoke. No one's hurt that badly. We got a few grazes and cuts. Apparently, the circuit had some water in it."

Leslie looked startled, "Water! Where could it have come from?"

Sally frowned and looked at Percy and Harry who were determinedly staring out of the window.

"Dunno. Table wasn't wet. No one was near it. We don't have cameras or anything. I think it was just a freak accident."

Harry winced. Sally immediately cut in, "I think I'll be leaving." Jim looked at them and said, "Of course. Be careful, alrigh'."

Sally nodded and slung her purse strap over her shoulder. She took the boys by their hands and went to the door and down the steps. They boarded a bus from around the corner. Neither of them talked. But Sally hummed a lullaby. Percy and Harry leaned against her and just as their eyes drooped, the bus lurched to a stop. "Come on." Sally nudged them. They got down, crossed the street and walked down the familiar path way to No 3, Privet Drive.

Sally closed the door as the boys jumped onto the sofa. "Well, what happened?"

The boys started to talk at once and sally shushed them, "One at a time, goodness me!"

Percy looked at Harry and mumbled, "Dusty. We clean it."

"The computer was dusty and so you decided to clean it with water." Sally said numbly. They nodded and she sighed.

"How did you reach up there? Wait on second thought, I don't want to know. Come on. Nap time."

…

**They're nearly three years old! Oh dear!**

**Since the weekend is over, the next update will probably be on Tuesday or Wednesday. Stay tuned!**

**Cabba. **


	7. Not knowing

**36 reviews, 25 favs, 35 follows and 3 communities! Thanks, Yup! You're reading the words of one happy girl!**

**Thanks so much, guys! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything related to the HP or PJO universe.**

* * *

"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!" Sally sang as she turned a right. According to the map and the written down directions, they should reach the resort in ten minutes.

Harry and Percy laughed and clapped from the back seats of the Gabe's car that Sally had paid for.

"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!"

_Clap, clap!_

"If you're happy and you know it and you really wanna show it, if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!"

_Clap, clap!_

"If you're happy-"

"Mama! Not agaaaaaaaiiiiiin!" Harry whined and Percy laughed at his discomfort. Sally's heart soared whenever Harry called her '_Mama_.' It gave her strength and realization came to her that other people actually depended on her in the world.

"Alright, what should we sing then, Pumpkin?" Sally had started the rhyme marathon since they were two. Sometime she would talk to them in Spanish. She loved that language.

Harry looked out of the window. He always did that whenever he was in deep thought or was hiding something from her.

"Numba!"

Percy started jumping in his seat. The seat belt was the only reason why he hadn't shot through the roof yet. "In Spani!"

Sally laughed, "Okay. Say the numbers with me in Spanish. Till ten."

They started, "Uno, Dos, Tres, Quadro, Cinco, Seis, Siete, Ocho, Nueve, Diez!"

The three of them cheered the last number and Sally spotted the huge hoarding of the resort's advertisement.

"Again!" Percy yelled. Sally shook her head, "No, Pepe. See that sign. We're reaching now."

Cue screaming.

…

Sally grabbed Percy's hand who grabbed Harry's hand who put his other thumb in his mouth. She wheeled the bags into the lobby tiredly to the receptionist. The man looked in his mid-thirties with dark blonde hair and brown eyes. Sally sighed. She was reminded of another guy she met in New York with dark blonde and blue eyes. Yes, Patrick had been very weird, but she had found him funny.

"Um..Miss?" The receptionist asked looking worriedly at Sally who had zoned out. She snapped out of it blushing. "Oh! I'm so sorry. We have a reservation under Jackson." She said handing over the reservation code. He took a look at it and nodded.

"Of course, Mrs. Jackson. Your in Cabin 21 on Beach East. Mathew will take your luggage." He rang the bell and a short blonde of about 15 ran in to take the keys and their bags.

"You can order for room service and food at anytime and the breakfast, lunch and supper times are given on the menus in your cabin. Enjoy your stay here, Madam."

Sally smiled back. She was a little thrown off when he had called her 'Mrs. Jackson', but she was too tired to correct him. They set off into the electric lit pavement with many decorative plants on either side of them. The sea kept splashing on the shore as if celebrating something.

Percy and Harry kept laughing and talking to each other. At times, Sally couldn't understand them. They would slur their words and skip out syllables or mix two words together. Strangely, they understood each other perfectly as if it was their own language.

"Mama! Wosie!" Harry yelled running forward towards a patch of ground dominated by white roses which were beautifully illuminated by the moon. Sally grinned, "Don't touch them, Pumpkin." She said.

Harry would never hurt the plants by plucking them. She said the words so that he wouldn't do anything with so many plants around them in front of a mortal other than herself.

Suddenly, Sally felt scared. Both Harry and Percy were very close to their power sources. What if they went out of control? What if they destroyed the entire beach? She was pretty sure that they could. She looked down at them, running around to each plant while Harry jabbered away telling the names and history, so fast she caught only a few words.

Then Harry said very clearly, "Chrysanthemums!"

Both Sally and the young teen, Mathew, froze and stared at him.

"What?!" Mathew gasped. Harry and Percy grinned at him and ran further up the path. Sally couldn't move for the life of her. He couldn't even say 'Rose' properly! Where the Hades did, 'Chrysanthemums' come from?

Mathew turned to look at Sally, eyes wide as saucers."Did he just say-"

Two screams came from the beach and Sally threw all caution to the winds by whipping out her celestial bronze knife and running down to the shore where Harry and Percy had gone. She stared in shock as she saw something she had read about in a book. A Greek Book about mythological creatures.

The creature stared at Sally. He was standing, if you could call balancing on fins standing, in the waves with a large trident pointed at the two young boys. No, not Poseidon, but someone who looked very much like him and who owned a trident nearly as powerful as his.

"Tri-" Sally began, but the heir of Poseidon held up his hand. He walked towards her, his tail morphing into human legs. The waves left his body with clothes that had come from the water itself. He walked up to her and stopped when they were a foot apart. His sea-coloured eyes, so much like Poseidon's and Percy's stared angrily at her.

He knew. Sally couldn't help the tears that came to her eyes. He'd tell Amphitrite. And then the Olympians. If Zeus and Hades came to know…

"Sally Jackson. How dare you bring him back here?!" Triton asked angrily.

Sally felt confusion. Percy wasn't allowed to come back to visit the sea?

"I…I don't understand." She whispered. Percy and Harry ran and hid behind her legs when Triton was completely focused on her. Triton muttered something in Greek looking down on the sand. He took a deep a breath to calm himself down.

"No one knows that I'm here. Father, is on Olympus and apparently the meeting hasn't started yet." He gestured to the waves and Sally realized that the water was lively in a safe amused-Sea-God-way.

"I've known about you, Mortal. Mother and Father had a fight before he left and met you. He came back looking much calmer than he should have. I've had my doubts about you. You have raised him well beyond my expectations. But you shouldn't have brought him here." He said in a softer tone.

Sally was speechless. It was several moments before she recovered enough to say more than a few syllables, "You know?! Oh my Gods! I didn't realize…it's dangerous to bring him here! I don't understand!"

"Ms. Jackson! Look, if my mother comes to know about him, Fates save him. She is the goddess of the Sea. It's lucky that I'm the one who… who…" triton hesitated and looked, not at Percy, but at Harry.

"Come here." Triton said softly kneeling down. Harry trembled and looked at Sally. She held his hand tightly and brought him forward. Triton took his other hand and held it for a few seconds.

"What is he?" He asked Sally.

"Pardon me?" She asked astonished.

"He's not as mortal as you. He isn't a half-blood, either." Triton now looked angrily at Harry. "Who are you?"

Harry whimpered as he mumbled, "Hawy Potter."

Sally frowned and said, "No es un monstruo, si eso es lo que estás insinuando." (He's not a monster if that's what you're implying.) Harry would not like the word 'Monster'.

Triton looked only mildly surprised that the mortal had changed the language so easily. He got up and said, "Él es diferente y lo sabes." (He is different and you know it.)

Sally raised her head and looked straight into Triton's eyes. It startled him to see such determined eyes. Her pale blue irises reflected the moonlight to look silver. "Él es un niño. Lo quiero como a una madre y nada de lo que digas me hace lo lamentará." (He is a child and nothing you say will make me regret him.)

Triton sighed and said, "I haven't know a mortal like you in all my years. But him, he is different. He is shielding your son and you. He may not know but I can sense something powerful within him."

"Shielding?" Harry was powerful, that Sally knew. But what shielding work was he doing?

"That scar is not ordinary. I sensed your son only because I was in the water on this very beach. Clearly, None of the Gods can sense him. You seem to be knowing what you're doing." Triton said looking at Harry. He took a glance at Percy who reached out and pulled Harry back.

Sally looked down to see Harry and Percy look up at her. "What shie-" She stopped when she realized that he was gone.

"Poof." Percy said. Looking at the waves Sally felt her uneasiness fading. She placed her knife back and took the boys hands and walked back to the wooden path surrounded by plants.

Mathew was on the ground sleeping. Sally sighed and took out a water bottle from the bag and sprinkled some water on his face. He jerked up and looked around wildly, "I'm up!"

He stared at sally and blushed, "Uh…"

"You fainted. Maybe you should rest. This is our cabin right?" Sally's facial expression morphed into one of a concerned nurse as she looked at him. She tried not to hear the giggling behind her.

"Yeah, yeah. I passed out?" he asked as tried to get up.

"You should go back home now, alright?" sally said picking the bags up. She handed her the gigglers their small backpacks patted Mathew on the shoulder. He looked a little dazed as he went back.

"Mama?" Percy giggled as she slid the Room Card over the handle of the cabin. Closing the door and switching on the lights, she took in the beauty of the cozy cabin before dumping the bags unceremoniously on the floor as she flopped onto the bed. She heard Harry and Percy bouncing on the second bed but her thoughts drifted off.

Harry was shielding them. The Gods had no idea that they were even in London. Poseidon did know what he was doing, right. What if he wanted to visit them, how would he know? How would Sally know that Poseidon tried and failed or maybe didn't try at all?

* * *

**I know I said, Tuesday or Wednesday, but I got behind 'cause of weekdays. Now I'm gonna update on the weekends. Two updates per week is good enough, right guys? **

**I took the Spanish off Google Translate. If there's anything wrong, let me will ya? I love hearing Spanish, French and other languages like them.**

**Stay tuned for the next update!**

**Cabba.**


	8. Playin'

_**greekfreak101, Lientjuhh, mjkcsk, Juli Beawr, Silex Wordweaver **_**and**_** (**_**anon**_**)Artemis' Hunters!**_**Thanks so much for your reviews, guys! Three communities and thank you for all the follows and favs!**

**This one was supposed to be out a few hours earlier but wasn't. The next chapter is coming… yes! You guessed it! Tomorrow!**

'_**The Lost Second' **_**will be continued after I finish '**_**Pumki**_**'. Thanks for your patience.**

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction. Hence, the name of the site. I don't own these fabulous series.**

…

"…happy birthday to you!"

Sally clapped as Harry and Percy blew out three candles on the three cupcakes set on the plastic plate. The little family was on a thick blanket on the porch of their cabin with the sun rising from behind the cabin. The light streamed in through the window from in to out on them. You wouldn't get the picturesque 'sun-rising-from-the-sea-horizon' from this spot. But you will witness the scenic 'sun-setting-in-the-sea-horizon'. That was good enough.

"Wanna know ma wis?" Harry said excitedly. Percy grinned and Sally sighed, "You shouldn't say your wish out loud or else it won't come true."

Harry's eyes widened and he clapped his hands over his mouth determined to take it to the grave. Percy placed his hands over his brother's mouth too as an added precaution. Sally laughed as she broke each of the cupcakes and gave it to them. She had bought these from a sweet shop in Surrey. The people working there were nice and it would've been a popular place if the boss was a nicer man. Sally was quite sure that he and Gabe would get along pretty well.

"How old are you now, boys?" Sally asked swallowing a piece. Harry held up three fingers in both his hands as he grinned at his mother. His brother copied him. Sally allowed herself to breathe before patting down one each of their hands and said, "One, two, three. You're three years old! Oh no! My little boys are already so big!"

Percy gasped. He threw his hands around Harry forgetting his cupcake and said, "No! Wate fa meeeeee!" Harry hugged Percy tightly and nodded, "Oka." Percy knew that Harry was older than him. Hence, the dramatic scene.

"Kodak moment!" Sally cried and took out her the little digital camera filled with photos of Harry, Percy and her flower vase. She snapped a quick one of her two little angels and showed the photo to them. They stared at the frozen pic of themselves in awe. "Mageec!" Harry cried. Sally giggled and ruffled his hair making t stick up. She groaned at that. She always forgot not to do that.

"Right, now let's not waste this beautiful sunlight and ocean breeze. Last one in the water's a rotten egg!"

Harry and Percy screamed as they started running towards the sea and Sally rushed after them. The three of them splashed into the water.

"I win!" Percy shouted. Harry looked shocked, "No! I win. I win!" He stuck out his tongue at Percy whose expression morphed into a betrayed one.

"No, no! You're rota ed!"

"No, you!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Uh huh!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Uh huh!"

Sally was ready to burst out laughing. Here they were, in the not so early hours of the morning enjoying their birthday in the ocean's cool water with them fighting like little kids.

Wait, they were little kids.

"NUH UH!" Percy screamed and a huge wave of water doused Harry making him land on his butt with the water upto his neck.

"Pumpkin!" Sally screeched. Harry didn't look scared or hurt. He looked a little rebellious as he screamed, "I WIN!" He whipped out a long piece of seaweed from the water and threw it at Percy.

Through the coming years, Sally had never been able to forget this event whenever she was reminded of 'Harry's and Percy's third birthday.' She could clearly imagine the past memories. The seemingly harmless seaweed Harry had thrown wriggled like a snake in the air and fell on Percy wrapping his arms against his body. Percy fell into the water shocked and another burst of water took Harry underwater. Percy broke out of the seaweed and lunged at Harry who grabbed him and they started rolling in the water a ball of sea water engulfing them along with the seaweed and some grass which had come out of nowhere.

An hour later, after Sally had been able to successfully separate them without being thrown back, the three of them trod quietly back into the cabin and didn't go into the water again for the rest of the day.

They forgot about it the next day, though. Atleast, Sally thought that Harry and Percy did until they told her whether they could go, 'play' in the water again. Sally suggested sand-castles and that occupied their minds completely.

The week went by as they ate at the diner a mile from their cabin, searched for sea-shells, 'played' some more in the water, built sand-castles with underground tunnels, tried and failed to make a 'sand man' (Percy's idea), counted the number of petals in every flower around the cabin (Harry's idea) and took photos of everything mentioned above (Sally's idea).

The neighbours were friendly. The hosts and workers always waved at the two boys who made it a point to run up to them and talk utter nonsense while they waited for the food they'd ordered.

And all the while, Sally would watch them and the others to see if they there was anything out of the ordinary. But no-one looked at them for too long. No one frowned at them. No one acted out of place.

This list didn't included Sally herself. She felt uneasy every time Harry and Percy would talk to complete strangers bringing the spotlight on them. But they literally said nonsense. It was like they deliberately mixed up their words and pronunciations. Sally frowned not liking that. It wouldn't be good for their vocabulary. Making a mental note to tell them, she smiled at the elderly couple to whom her boys were talking to and said, "We'll see them tomorrow. It's time to go."

Harry and Percy grinned and waved at them and everyone else in the restaurants. Sally was surprised to see many of them waving back. It must have been the change in environment which made them so social here than at Surrey. Yes, coming here was the right choice. The sea had no knowledge of Percy as long as Triton kept his word of silence and her boys had enjoyed an entire week here. They would be leaving tomorrow and Sally could barely think about them leaving her for kindergarten. She couldn't believe that time had already gone by so fast!

It seemed like just yesterday that she shook Harry's hand and called him 'Pumpkin.'

…

**It was okay, right? Tell me what you think. Stay tuned tomorrow!**

**Cabba.**


	9. Friends

**48 reviews, 3 communities, 35 favs, 53 alerts! Thank you guys! **

_**RedRangerBelt**_** : Whoa! Slow down there. I'm not telling ya everything in one-shot. Of course Percy's gonna have all kinds of trouble in school. Yes, they'll go back to the resort every year to celebrate the boys' birthdays on 31****st**** July. Harry is two and a half weeks older than Percy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any right to the PJO and HP series. Never will. I need a tissue…(sniff)**

* * *

"Bye, hon." Sally said as she kissed Percy on the head. Sneaking a glance at the Dursleys, who were completely occupied with saying, kissing, hugging and crying goodbyes to Dudley, she gave quick kiss to Harry too.

"Behave, the both of you. Don't show anyone anything. If there are pretty flowers or tall trees or pretty fishies and blue water, just look at them. You can tell me everything after nap-time when I come to pick you up. And Pumpkin? Don't be near Dudley. You too, Pepe." Sally hugged the both of them and led them to the woman standing at the entrance of Missie's Kindergarten Batch. She had light brown hair and large brown eyes. Her name tag read, 'Lola Hetchins'.

"Good morning ma'am, I'm Lola Hetchins, one of the teachers of this year's batch. Thank you for joining us. Your children will have a lovely time, here."

_I bet they will. Who doesn't enjoy blowing stuff up?_, thought Sally. Nevertheless she smiled at the warm welcome and bid Harry and Percy good-bye. They grinned at her, waved and followed the teacher into the bright room filled with way too many play stuff. Sally walked back to Gabe's car passing Dudley on the way who was throwing a tantrum by not letting go of Petunia's leg. She pretended to be busy searching for her key in case Harry's aunt turned to see Sally ignoring them.

As Sally, started the engine, she turned around to see Percy and Harry happily waving from the window. They had dumped their bags somewhere and looked like the happiest kids in the bunch of screaming children not wanting to leave their parents. She blew a kiss at them and they shouted something back to her. Although, she couldn't hear them, she whispered, "I love you too."

* * *

The boys watched their mother pull out of the parking lot and drive down the road, out of sight. They sighed as they jumped down the seat next to the window and looked at the chaos around them. Many ladies were running after other kids scrambling around the place to get away from them. The bags were strewn around, some toys thrown onto the floor; few children were sitting and crying. Harry saw Dudley sulk around as he sniffed. His eyes fell on a juice box and he grabbed at it.

Wrinkling his nose, he pulled Percy to a corner where Harry knew that the younger boy would like. Percy's eyes lit up when he saw a fish bowl at the top of the shelf in front of them. There were four gold fish and a black coloured fish swimming around. The moment Percy looked up at them they immediately looked down at the boys, their mouths opening and closing faster than before.

_Goodmorning, My Lord_. One of the stammered.

Percy grinned and said, "Goomonin'! Hawy! Say 'hi' to the fishy!" Harry looked up at the fish confused. He knew Percy loved fishes, but now they had to say 'hi' too?

"Hi." He mumbled.

Percy's grin widened and he felt excited. When the fish spoke, it was like the voice was inside his mind. It was a funny feeling.

He placed one leg on the first level of the shelf and gripped his hands on the next level as he tried to haul himself up towards the fish. Harry gasped and looked around. No one paid them any attention as they were one of the quietest in the bunch. The other one was Dudley slowly finishing the orange juice. Harry frowned. He liked oranges.

His mind was diverted as he heard a creak. One of the shelf levels cracked as Percy kept his weight on it. The boy froze. The fish swam around frantically. Harry reached up to grab Percy by the back of his shirt and pulled. The younger boy lost his grip and fell on top of Harry. The entire shelf precariously leaned but then balanced itself on it's own. The boys scrambled away from the corner and leaned against the wall.

"Mama said no funny stuft." Harry told Percy wagging his finger. Percy sighed and looked out of the window into the park built alongside the building. There were small sized swings, see-saw, tire swings, spring boards in the huge sand box.

"Wanna go." Percy whined. He got up and ran up to the closest woman who was busy removing lego pieces from a small kid's underpants. He pulled on her sweater and when she looked at him, Percy pointed out towards the ground. The woman smiled and said, "First we'll play inside and then out. How does that sound?"

Harry nodded and pulled Percy towards their bags. Their small bags were blue and black with pictures of dolphins and sea shells on them. Souvenirs from Louis&Sons resort. It stilled smelled of the ocean. At least, Percy's bag did. Harry's were starting to smell of roses for some strange reason.

Simultaneously, they pulled out their Sippy bottles and took a gulp of their spinach juice Sally had insisted on. Harry didn't mind it. Compared to what Petunia always gave him to eat and drink, this was delicious. Percy on the other hand made funny faces, before closing it and packing the bottle.

"Borin'" Percy drawled. Harry looked outside the window towards the park longingly. There were so many plants! He counted more than ten trees. As he stared at the plant bushes, he thought he saw something stare back. Someone with two eyes that reflected what the colour of the plants. Harry tilted his head. The creature did the same. From this distance, Harry couldn't understand what he was seeing. Did the creature just stick out it's tongue at him? Harry did the same.

A tall lady with a bright smile clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Alright, everyone! Let's move on to more fun matters. Who wants to play a game?"

There were screams and such, while Percy pulled Harry away from the window.

* * *

At 10:30 a.m., the adults opened the large doors which led to the parks. The tiny mob rushed out into the unusually bright weather. Harry and Percy could honestly say that the adults where nearly as nice as their mother. But the bad side was that Dudley had made about ten friends. That was five more than them.

Harry pulled Percy to the clump of bushes hoping that the creature was there. Maybe they could make some friends other than the five fish?

"What? I wanna go on see-saw." Percy whined but Harry said, "Shh." He sat down by the bush and Percy sighed but followed him. After about a few minutes, Percy started getting edgy. He kept digging into the sand as if he was making a sand castle back at the beach.

Suddenly there was some rustling of leaves and something with two eyes peeked at them. They stared at the creature and the creature stared back. It poked its head out turning a bit so that no one else could see it.

It was strange. It looked like shiny grass was all over its body. It kept sticking out its tongue at them. It didn't blink as it stared at them and the weirdest thing was it didn't have any arms or legs. It was a long thin rope light green in colour. It had two tongues. Or maybe it was forked.

It said, _You are different_ , to Harry. Percy frowned. He didn't like the hissing noise that came out of its mouth.

Harry wondered. Sally said that he was unique and special. Did she say different too? He couldn't remember. It sounded big and nice.

_Thanks_, Harry said to it. _Who are you?_

_Lih_, it said. Harry giggled. He tried to pronounce it, but it was strange on his tongue.

_To humans, I am a_ _snake_, it continued. Harry had heard of snakes. He looked excitedly at Percy who seemed wary of the creature.

"It's snake, Percy!" Harry reached out to pet the snake's head but Percy caught his hand and yanked him off the ground, "Don't like hissy." He said walking backwards. Harry felt confused. He turned around to look at the snake. The snake stared at Percy and then told Harry, _We will meet again_. It disappeared into the plants crossed a small hole under the huge wall and slipped into the Surrey forest behind it.

Harry felt sad. Wasn't he allowed to make friends with someone? He had let Percy say hi to the fishies. But they were stuck there and Percy could see them everyday. What if Leehe didn't come back?

* * *

Sally knew that it was stupid for her and the Dursleys to go by separate cars to pick up the three kids, but if she decided to opt for car-pool, Harry and Percy had to be comfortable with it. She'd suggest it after a few weeks.

It was early and she peeped in the window to see every kid asleep in different patterned sleeping bags.

"Ms. Jackson, is it? Would you wait for a while or do you want to take them home early?" Mrs. Hetchins whispered. Sally smiled, "I'll wait. How were they?"

"Well, as far as I saw, they were quite quiet. Didn't talk much to the other kids. Really attached at the hip. They were very sweet though. Percy didn't pay much attention, but then again, they are only three. Your twin boys were probably the only disciplined ones during the first ten minutes." She said recalling.

"They're not twins." Sally sighed. Best not to confuse everyone. Ms. Hetchins looked perplexed. But they…uh…I'm so sorry. I hadn't realized-"

"No, it's alright. Many people get confused. They do act alike in some situations. You should've been there during their terrible twos! Actually, it's better that you weren't."

Ms. Hetchins laughed and turned around. A few of the kids were stirring and she said, "Looks like Percy's awake-"

"That's Harry." Sally interrupted. The teacher blushed and said, "Of course. You can take them, Ms. Jackson."

Sally followed her into the huge room and went to Harry who was rubbing his eyes with his tiny fists, "Hi Mama." He murmured. Sally grinned and scooped him up in her hands. She made to pick up his sleeping bag but another woman said that they'd take it.

"Get your bag, Pumpkin." Sally whispered and put him back on the ground. Harry ran to the shelf where the bags were kept and took his and Percy's bags. He ran back to her as she took a sleeping Percy into her arms. Taking the bags on her other shoulder, Sally took Harry's hand and went out of the building. She nodded at Mrs. Hetchins as Harry put his thumb in his mouth and started sucking.

"Pumpkin. You're not an infant anymore. Take that out." Sally chided. Harry grumbled but did so nevertheless. He turned to look at the park. Sally noticed his line of sight and asked, "What is it, sweety?"

"Leehe." Harry mumbled. Sally blinked and patted her son's head. She rubbed Percy's back and the child yawned as she put the seat belt over him and Harry.

"Wake up, Pepe. We're going home now. Gabe won't be there, I promise."

Percy rubbed his eyes and looked at her face grinning. "Cookie?"

Sally sighed, "Not today, hon. I need to buy the flour. I'll surprise you, alright?"

She grinned as she got into the driver's seat and started the car. The journey home was unusually quiet. Sally felt worried as she looked into the mirror to see Harry stare out of the window and Percy mutter under his breath looking at a spot in the air.

"How was your day? Fun? Made new friends?"

Harry 'humphed' from back as Percy whipped his head to look at Sally, "Uh huh! Thew wewe five fishies! We said 'hi'! They said 'goomonin'!

Sally nodded trying calm down. Of course the fish would say something to him. It's natural. It's natural.

"What about you, Pumpkin? Said 'Hi' to anyone, yet?"

Harry frowned at Percy and then said, "To fishies. And then Leehe. Pepe no like Leehe."

"Hissy scawy!" Percy exclaimed.

"Wait, Leehe? What's that?" Sally asked.

"Snack." Harry said calmly. Sally bit her lip. They said 'hi' to the food? They're not that young.

"Hissy weid." Percy said firmly. Sally's mind went into overdrive when she put together the words, 'snack' and 'hissy'.

Her legs pressed down on the clutch and break and the car came to a screeching stop.

"You WHAT?!" Sally screamed turning to look at Harry. Said boy jumped when he saw her facial expression.

"Snack." He mumbled he grabbed Percy's hand who felt equally terrified.

"Snake. You said 'Hi' to a snake named 'Leehe'." Sally said faintly trying to calm down. Harry nodded and Percy mumbled.

"I said 'hi' to fishies."

* * *

**Fishes and Snakes. Poor Sally. She's actually my most favourite character in the PJO series. **

**Stay tuned for next week!**

**Cabba.**


	10. Early Xmas gift

**57 reviews! 44 favs! 66 alerts! 4 communities! Guess who's doing the 'Happy Dance'? Me! Guess who's gonna join me? You!**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own any aspect of the P or PJO series. (Does a double negative make a positive?)**

* * *

"…18, 19, 20!" The boys cheered and Sally laughed as she stopped the car in front of the kindergarten institution. There was a layer of snow everywhere and Sally wanted to groan as she thought about stepping out into the cold air. It wasn't that drastic, but the weather still seemed unfit for young kids like her little angels. Harry and Percy were bundled up in thick shirts, sweater and a jacket each with scarves and mufflers. They looked like human teddy bears whom Sally could hug to the brink of death.

Christmas was just around the corner and it was the last day until the Winter holidays. The Dursleys were, of course, leaving for some grand vacation, but Sally only took it in an optimistic way. There was no other way, really.

They entered the warm building and Percy tried to rip the scarf off of his neck. "Patience!" Sally chuckled and removed all the extra layers of both her boys and kissed their heads.

"Be good!" She called after them and they grinned at her. In her mind, there could be no one who would be able to replace the space in her heart occupied be her little Pumpkin and Pepe. She thought about their names. It had been a long time since she'd called them by their original names. She mentally shrugged. It didn't matter what their names were, did it? (Naming her blood son 'Perseus', is not counted here.)

* * *

"Nap time. Come now, children. Don't you want to have a good long rest after learning all the alphabets?!" One of the women said standing in the middle of the nursery.

Harry pouted. He wanted to talk to Leehe about all the things his second best friend had seen. True that they hadn't made many acquaintances, but Percy'll always be his brother and best friend. Nobody would change that.

Currently, the long snake bared it's fangs at Harry who giggled. It visited him, every single day scaring Percy out of his wits and conversing with Harry whenever it could get the chance to. Human adults weren't supposed to it. It'd mean instant death.

But apparently, death wouldn't come only if the adults saw it…

Mrs. Hetchins adjusted the covers of Dudley's sleeping bag and tip-toed out of the room. The dark room had night-time stickers which glowed in the faint light giving a bit of brightness to the afternoon interior. Making sure that the heaters were at the right temperatures, she carefully closed the doors.

For a while there was silence. And then…

Creak.

The shelf on which the fishbowl was placed moved slightly. One of its shelves had a small crack which had made the noise it would usually make if too much weight was pressed on it. Like when a child tried to climb it, or when the bags were kept on it or when a snake would slither down each shelf to reach the ground from the slightly open window near which the table had been coincidentally placed.

Though the last example had never happened before, it was happening now.

The snake, Lih, had observed the routine for weeks. For the next long moments, no adult would be present and all children would be asleep. It was the perfect time to talk to its interesting human friend.

The fully grown adder, a little thin for its age, slithered along the rows of unprotected children until it could locate the familiar taste. Usually, humans were not something snakes would go looking willing or even unwillingly, but this child didn't smell completely human. And to add to that, the human had the sour salt scent of a snake. This was not the most curious aspect of the human child. Said child could also talk in the snake's tongue, a feat which hadn't been accomplished for years if the rumours of some magic snake-man few years ago were true.

Sticking out its tongue, the snake would have slithered towards the intended destination if something hadn't grabbed it.

"Hissy!" Percy exclaimed holding the snake by its tail and pulling it towards himself. The snake gave an enraged hiss and bared its fangs as if about to jump at the three year old boy, but Percy, almost calmly, grabbed the snake by the neck in his other arm. The snake tried to wiggle out but Percy tightened his grip.

"You weid." Percy said frowning at the snake in his arms. He sat up and looked to his side were Harry was in a deep sleep. Percy let go of the snake's tail and held the neck firmly with both hands. The snake frantically moved its entire body. The tail swished around until it narrowly missed Harry head. His hair moved with the wind caused by the tail. Percy gasped and left the snake's neck to catch it by the tail.

Lih got its bearing once it was able to breathe. Baring its fangs with venom dripping down, it lunged for Percy's neck. Percy blinked and held the tail in front of his face and the fangs sank deeply into its own tail.

If snakes could howl in pain. Lih would've. Removing the intrusion, it glared menacingly at Percy who was still holding the tail looking a little abashed.

"Boo Boo." He said in an apologetic tone. The snake hissed and tried to escape but Percy pulled it back with such force that the snake's head banged against the wall as it was roughly hauled.

"Oops." Percy mumbled and dropped the tail. He leaned and picked up the heavy snake. It was sticking out its tongue weakly to sense danger. No use of that 'cause the danger was holding him uncomfortably. Percy frowned and shook the snake roughly thinking it to be asleep. He let go of the tail and looked dead straight into the snake's eyes. The snake didn't blink and neither did Percy. "Hissy?" He called. The snake didn't move. Perhaps if the human got bored and let it go, it might survive. Might.

Percy tilted his head and shook the head again so much that it banged again on the wall. This time there was a dark stain. Percy looked confused and grabbed the tail and pulled the snake tightly. There was some hissing sound from the creature until it went silent. Percy dropped the snake and prodded it with his fingers.

"Hissy?" Wak up!" The snake didn't. Maybe it had gone to sleep. He lifted it up and put it on his lap petting the head like Sally would do at times. She'd run her fingers through his hair humming and it always calmed him down. The snake didn't have hair. But Percy hummed and thought that Harry's peculiar friend wasn't so bad.

The door opened and voices could be heard. "…pick Dudley up early. So I told them I'd come and take my boys too." Sally said smiling at the teacher and both women looked at the kids assuming they were asleep. Then they saw Percy sitting on his sleeping bag with a very poisonous adder on his lap. He grinned and lifted the snake to show his mother, "Hissy sweepy!"

Mrs. Hetchins fainted and Sally screamed. Many kids were jolted up and Harry rubbed his eyes to see Percy and Lih together as if posing for a shot. Except the snake looked asleep.

"Leehe!" Harry cried happily and lifted the snake out of Percy's grip. The snake didn't respond and Harry frowned shaking it. "Sweepy." Percy said and Harry nodded. He was about to pet the snake before it was ripped out of his arms and thrown towards the corner by a hysterical Sally who grabbed her sons and Dudley pulled them out without explanation. She took their bags hurriedly pulled their jackets and very soon all three kids were in the car as disheveled as Sally felt. She was driving at full speed and every time she turned, the boys screamed.

Sally slammed down on the break, resulting in the tires to screech, when they reached Privet Drive and turned to look at them, expecting them to cry, but the boys burst out laughing.

"Fun!" Percy cried. Dudley screamed, "Again. Again!"

Sally didn't listen to them but her gaze were fixed at Harry who grinning at her.

Looks like they had got rid of the snake problem, temporarily.

* * *

**You must have guessed it but I'll tell you guys anyway. This story'll probably last to about 17 chapters if the plot in my mind is proper. Any change and you'll know.**

**I'm putting a one-shot about Harry/Ginny after a few hours. Small and sweet.**

**Stay tuned for tomorrow!**

**Cabba.**


	11. Feeling Blue

**65 reviews, 5 communities, 48 favs and 72 followers! Eep! I love you guys!**

**Have you guys read, 'The Warm Touch'? It's in Harry's fifth year and can be considered in the universe in which 'Pumki' exists. **

**Disclaimer: Do you know that I don't own the HP and PJO series?**

* * *

Pan!

Sally shot up from the bed, breathing hard. Her bedroom was still dark and she saw the wall clock show the time – 4:37 a.m.

She rubbed her sweaty face and tried to drown out Gabe's snores. She walked towards the window and pulled back the curtain to see snow fall serenely. It was Christmas and she felt excited. Not because of the holiday, but because she probably figured out Harry's parentage.

The Lord of the Wild, Pan. The son of Hermes. A God who controlled the life force of plants and animals.

Sally felt relief wash over her when she realized that Harry might not be a demi-god after all. A Satyr.

The smile dropped. Harry didn't have furry legs or hooves or tiny horns. Do those features grow after a few years or are they born with it? The logical option was that Satyrs were born with them, but then, that would mean that Harry wasn't a son of Pan.

But he could talk to flowers, plants, trees and also convince the weeds not to grow in Sally's garden. He could talk to snakes too.

Sure, Lord Pan could talk to all animals, but maybe Harry inherited the ability to talk to only limbless, dangerous and poisonous ones.

Sally shuddered. She still had nightmares about that snake. It had been dead when she had snatched it from his hands, but she couldn't tell him that. Harry thought the snake was his friend. However hazardous the snake had been, she couldn't just tell the three year old that it was dead. The child even knew its name! How could she explain the concept of death to him?

Usually, she was okay with lying to people to cover up unexplainable things that happened to her boys, but it had been one of the hardest things to look him in the eyes, wear a fake smile of concern and tell him that 'Leehe' had gone back to his family.

_Her_, he had corrected. The snake was female. Sally hoped that the snake hadn't explained the notion of girls and boys.

Sally sighed and got back into bed. If Harry was a son of Lord Pan, (a furryless, hoofless and hornless son), then, the name Potter came from his mother.

Petunia and his mother were sisters. She didn't know that her maiden name had been Potter!

Sally planned to try to drag it out of her. If what she thought was true, then, Pan was the probable answer. Sally could also look up 'Potter' on the net after confirming that it was mortal.

* * *

Sally tried not to show disappointment on her face. She shut the door as Harry and Percy ran to the latter's room.

Petunia's maiden name was 'Evans'. Not 'Potter'. Which meant that both parents were mortal.

She wanted to grip her hair tightly, but slowly walked into Percy's room to find it empty.

She blinked and held her breathe. There! She could hear their giggles.

"Hmm. I was quite sure that two little cuties ran into this room. Don't you Mr. Dolly?" Sally asked the stuffed dolphin, Percy's favourite toy. The volume of the giggles increased.

"I think they disappeared into thin air. Oh no! Who's going to eat all those cookies I made? I'll have to throw them out if no one rescues me from this horrible problem!"

There were screams as two children wriggled out from under the small bed and grabbed Sally's jeans.

"No Mama! We save you!" Harry cried.

Percy nodded his head ferociously, "We heos!"

Sally laughed and took their hands, "It's 'heroes', Pepe. Oh, I'm so glad that someone loves me enough to set me free from this burden!"

She set them on the platform and pushed the plastic plate towards them. It was filled with brown chocolate chip cookies with tiny nuts embedded in them.

"Slowly!" She warned them when Percy grabbed two cookies at the same time. She took away one of them and said, "Chew properly."

Sally enjoyed watching them savour the taste when she heard a car reverse into the garage. All three of them groaned. She heard the door opened and then shut louder than necessary. There was shuffling of feet and her husband appeared in the kitchen looking hopeful.

Gabe sneered when he saw the children. Sally immediately put a plastic smile on her face and offered him a cookie. He grabbed one and stuffed the entire thing in his mouth.

"Honestly, I don't know why you waste your time on these two… (he glared at them and continued) ..freaks."

Harry flinched at the word and Sally immediately said, "Not much else to do with my time, Gabriel. You don't let me out much."

It was true. Other than shopping, visiting the nearby houses and going to the beach, Gabe didn't allow Sally to go into the city for any kind of sight-seeing. It didn't mean that Sally didn't go out…

Gabe snorted and then said, "I won't mind if you go for work. It might actually be necessary." He left the room where a surprised Sally stood.

Work? Why was that necessary? She had calculated that with her family money and his lottery wining, even if Gabe didn't work, they could sustain for a few years.

Yes, she was quite rich.

Sally went into their bedroom to see him unbutton his shirt and drop himself onto the bed, "Care to join me?" He asked smirking. She tried to breathe in less of that awful smell of his and asked, "Why did you say that I could work? You wouldn't have asked that if there was something in it for you."

Gabe shrugged and stretched, yawning. Sally almost gagged.

"One of my checks bounced back." He said as if it was no big deal. Sally's jaw dropped. "What?"

"I need to repeat?" He asked glaring. Sally gulped and asked, "Why? Did you sign it wrong or something?"

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Gabe got up from the bed and walked towards her. "Did I do something wrong? Is that what you're asking?" He muttered as the distance between them shortened and Sally found herself pressed against the wall. She tried not to cower. He glared at her and kissed her neck. She couldn't breathe with the stench filling up her nose. She resisted doing something stupid. Like pushing him back or kicking him. Unfortunately, her knee was begging her to be pushed upwards hard.

She hated it. Hated that his presence made her feel helpless. Hated that there was no other way to keep Percy alive.

Oh there was. If Harry was around, then his shield, what Triton had told her about, would be able to mask Percy. But Harry wasn't around them 24/7. She couldn't adopt him. Firstly, because Gabe would never sign the official papers. Secondly, because Harry needed his own shield too. The one that was around the Dursleys' house. The physical barrier that felt so powerful that, whenever she passed it, she would remain there for a few seconds to feel the energy. It gave her strength to take care of her children regardless of what everyone else talked behind her backs. She was 21 and she had a three year old son. Careless.

Everyday, she felt the weight of her marriage on her mind, heart and ring finger of her left hand. A gold ring with a stone on it. She was pretty sure that the ring was gold plated and the stone was paste.

"It's best if you go for work. You're bored anyway. You'll get some time away from those brats." He murmured.

Sally had her eyes closed and realized that Gabe's gambling must have crossed too many lines. A few more months of this, and they might actually be in real trouble.

She sighed and whispered, "Okay."

Gabe grinned apparently under the impression that she fell for his 'charm'.

Sally went back into the kitchen to see Harry and Percy waiting for her on the platform. She blinked. It seemed as if they hadn't eaten since she left them to talk to Gabe.

"What's wrong?" She asked picking up one of the cookies. It felt hot in her hands. Her skin must have been colder. She felt her palms shaking and realized that she must have looked awful.

"Mama okay?" Percy asked looking a bit scared. Sally forced a smile on her face and nodded. She seemed to be down a lot of that nowadays.

"No no." Harry said worriedly.

Sally noticed that he was a bit perceptive for a child his age. It occurred to her that he could be a child of a demigod. A powerful man who could have a powerful son. Did demigods even live upto that age? She wasn't sure if they even crossed twenty. But to have a child, you don't need to be twenty. She knew with experience.

"You'd think they would do something productive instead wait for you all day." Gabe said looking into the kitchen before going to switch on the television.

Harry frowned and Sally's eyes widened and she mouthed, _No_.

He sighed and helped himself to a cookie.

Gabe voice came tauntingly from the living room, "Walmart's having lots of openings for some shifts. Look at the stuff just keep out! They probably don't have any cameras, so you can flick some stuff, if you get a job there, Sally!"

Sally gritted her teeth. Breathing exercises, woman!

"Small things only, first. Some candy, stickers, those lighters. And then some next level stuff, like batteries, food colouring-"

"I'll take the food-colouring by paying for them. Not by shop-lifting!" Sally said suddenly, not sure when or where she got the courage from. She went into the living room to stare at Gabe determinedly.

He raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Food-colouring's just a suggestion, sweetheart. You wouldn't need it anyway."

Sally couldn't stop herself. "Yes, I would."

"For what?" He asked. Sally contemplated and then looked at Harry and Percy sitting open mouthed next to the cookies.

"The cookies. Brownies, milk shakes, pancakes, scrambled eggs, anything. It doesn't change the taste." She said.

"Why would you want to change the colour?" Gabe asked shocked.

_To show you that I can._

"Just because." She said.

"What colour would suit them?" He asked glaring at her. He didn't like this conversation one bit.

"Blue!" Sally said triumphantly. She just loved this conversation every bit.

"That's stupid!" Gabe declared.

Sally chuckled and said, "So. It'll still be fun."

She turned to look at her boys and said, "We're going shopping tomorrow, boys. Object: Blue food-colouring!"

* * *

**And so starts the reign of BLUE! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Stay tuned for next weekend.**

**Cabba.**


	12. The Past, Patrick and Pain

**75 reviews and loving it! The next update will be on a Sunday and trust me when I say...it's gonna be unexpected.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the HP or PJO series.**

* * *

Sally yawned as she closed the door. It was 7 p.m. and working for 6 hours every day, except for Sunday, was something she did not like. If she thought that moping around the house had been too dull, this was exhausting.

She didn't have her diploma (Thanks, Uncle!) and so she settled for part time jobs. It kept their finances steady which was the main point. Labouring at the Fame Lido Theatre from 1 to 7 was a headache. She had to employ her fake smile sometimes, when a few customers were being too 'friendly'. But they had nothing on Gabe.

She went into Percy's room to see both her boys fast asleep on the small bed. She couldn't help but smile. They were the reason why she made the choices which came in her way. Sally lifted up Percy and placed the pillow under his head, next to Harry and pulled the comforter up to their shoulders. They were four and thus still too young to be left alone. She had asked Petunia to look after them for a few days until their classes started. As long as they stayed outside the house and didn't get in the Dursleys' way, Petunia had agreed.

Sally was about to leave before something caught her eye. She leaned to look at Harry's forehead, where his scar had been peeking out. She shivered at that. Running her fingers along the sharp cut, she felt the same tingling sensation as the shield around No. 4 Privet Drive. Except, this felt…heavier. As if there was literally something weighing down here. Sally had experienced several different weird happenings in her life. Even before that horrible plane-crash. She had been but four, still, that episode had branded itself into her brain.

* * *

_Flashback_

_The four year old was led back to her seat by one of the pretty women in a blue suit. Sally giggled and waved goodbye to the nice lady and turned towards her father._

"_Daddy! I'm bored!"_

"_Shh. Kimmy's asleep. Don't wake her up." Dylan Jackson quelled his older daughter. Sally had inherited his light and bright blue eyes. She huffed and turned to her mother, her irresistible blue eyes, wide and pleading. Megan chuckled and then whispered, "You see that boy there? He looks bored too. Talk to him."_

_Dylan shot Megan a look, but the latter only shrugged. There had to be some way to spend a fourteen hour flight without dying of boredom and keeping your child entertained._

_Sally looked doubtful of the boy a few seats in the front. She could see his blond hair neatly combed and puffed up. His back was to her, but his elbow was on the arm rest and he was leaning heavily on it. _

_Sally giddily jumped up from her seat and walked towards the boy. The plane shuddered a bit and Sally tripped and fell on him._

"_Ouch!"_

"_Oww! Sorry!" Sally cried peeling herself off from the five year old boy. People were muttering about the shake and the boy's parents looked at the children in concern._

"_Sorry." She muttered again, blushing. She was about to walk back when the boy pulled on her hand and looked at her in excitement._

"_Do I know you?" He asked. Sally thought, "I don't know you. So you don't know me." She concluded._

_The boy nodded wisely, "I'm Patrick. This is my Mom and Dad." He gestured to the two adults beside him. _

"_Hi, I'm Sally." She said shyly. She stood there for another second or so before running back to her parents._

_For the next few hours, the Jackson family simply sat in their seats experiencing some more turbulence. Sally had a tight grip on her mother's hand when Patrick had stumbled his way towards him. _

"_Hi." He said. Megan smiled at him and nudged her daughter. _

"_Why don't you just walk around?" She suggested. Patrick grinned up at the woman showing off the gap between his tiny teeth. He pulled on Sally's hand and they ran to another part of the plane. The children didn't notice the hostess' eyes on them._

"_Look!" Patrick whispered pointing towards the three people sitting in the front seat. Sally held onto the older boy's hand as they edged forward to the three teenagers, two girls and a boy between them, who were sitting there. They were nervous and kept fidgeting._

"_Hi!" Sally said. The three jumped and the closest one brought out a bronze sword to hold near Sally. Patrick's eyes widened as he pulled her away._

"_May! Put that away. They're kids!" the other girl hissed and May hastily slid the sword out of sight._

"_Cool." Patrick said._

_The older boy leaned forward and looked at the young children._

"_Where are your parents?" He asked._

"_There." Sally pointed in the mass of people in the huge plane. The boy nodded, slightly relieved as he said, "What are you doing here?"_

_Patrick pointed towards them as he said, "Magic."_

_The second girl raised an eyebrow. "No, you didn't see anything." She snapped her fingers loudly as she said the words. Sally and Patrick stared at them before starting to giggle madly. The three teens looked at each other, worried._

"_Clear-sighted. We can't force the Mist if the both of them can see through it."_

"_What are the odds of meeting two clear-sighted mortals, Mark? I'm getting a bad feeling."_

"_Two more hours, Janet. We survived till here, we can last a bit more. We'll show them."_

"_Weird." Patrick said. The teens looked at them and Janet said, "Why don't you go back to your parents?"_

_As he said the words, the entire plane shook heavily. A few people screamed as some of the bags from the overhead compartments fell and Patrick was knocked off his feet._

_Quick as a flash, May reached out and grabbed him._

"_Oh no. We're so close. Just give us some more time!" Mark yelled looking up. The plane tilted towards the left and everyone who weren't buckled fell towards the left windows. Mark got and grabbed the two kids before shoving them towards May and Janet._

"_Keep them safe. I'm checking on the pilots."_

_Something exploded behind them and the plane now leaned forwards badly. Screams and swears were echoing as something huge crashed into the plane from the right side._

"_The wings!" May cried. The right wing had broken off and impaled the plane while the left wing was on fire. The entire airplane was now in free-fall._

_There was another explosion closer towards them and Sally blacked out._

_End of flashback_

* * *

Sally gasped as she woke up suddenly. She looked around her expecting to see a wreckage but saw Harry and Percy still sleeping. She was on their bed between them, still in her work-clothes. Her face was sweaty as she recalled the horrible accident so clearly.

Blinking back the tears, she slowly got up to take a nice long bath.

Just last year, Gabe had suggested her to work and now, she felt the pressure of everything that had happened to her.

That young boy, Patrick had survived. She had met him again, but only for a few months. The three teens, now she knew that they had been demi-gods had escaped too. She remembered seeing them fight their way through security while everyone thought they had caused the explosion.

She wished Patrick was here. She wished that she could hug Kimmy. But they weren't here.

All she had were Harry and Percy and before she used to think they were enough, but now she needed someone else. Someone who could console her and tell her everything was alright.

Sally leaned heavily against the bathroom door. The water had been too hot for her cold and clammy skin. She felt like eating toast and eggs but they didn't have any. She frowned; she really wanted toast with garlic cheese on them along with scrambled eggs. Like an urge…

"No!" She gasped and quickly put on her clothes. She ran to Percy's room to check on the boys before leaving the house to go to the nearest convenience store. It was a bit of a walk, but she made it back within record time and ran back into the house. Checking on the boys again (they were still asleep, no way are they going to rest during the night), she went into the bathroom and removed the little test from her bag.

_Please no, please no, I've been so careful. Not Gabe's child. Please._

Ten agonizing minutes passed and when Sally checked the test, it had a flat line on it. Negative.

Sally was so relieved that her knees buckled and she fell to the floor unable to stop the tears of gratitude. The Fates weren't so cruel after all.

"Mama?" A small voice called and Sally reached up to open the door to let Percy in. The little boy stumbled in and he looked at her tears. He rushed up to her and hugged her.

"Don't cry. Don't cry." He said sadly, looking as if he were about to cry too.

"Shh, Pepe. It's okay. Mama was worried but now she isn't. I mean… I'm not worried now. Where's Pumpkin?"

A yawn came from outside as a half-asleep Harry slowly walked into the room rubbing his eyes. In his right hand he held a folded piece of paper. Harry looked at her and then felt shock when he realized that his mother was crying.

"Mum, not okay? Why?" He asked worriedly. Sally reached and brought both her sons into a tight hug.

"Mummy's okay, now. Mummy's so happy because I have the both of you now. I love you both so much. Don't ever leave me. Please."

Harry stared at the older woman in shock. He felt like crying too.

"I love you too." He said slowly and carefully. He felt different now. He knew that whatever would happen, he would have at least two people beside him. Comforting him. Making him smile. The Dursleys can go to hell.

And without his knowledge, the barrier around No. 4 Privet Drive was weakened.

Percy started sobbing. He grabbed the piece of paper from Harry's hand and gave it to Sally.

It was a roughly torn paper folded like a card. There were doodles on the outside and she opened it to see a strange tall stick figure with bright colours on it and a golden smudge on the top. Beside the figure, on the left was a small figure standing in a river flowing from a mountain scene in the background. On the right was another small shape standing in the garden with coloured dots for flowers and an orange spot. This scene was beside a light blue and black building, like a house. On one side, there was beginning of a forest and on the other side there was the shore of an ocean. The top of the drawing was the sky with a few clouds. It was bright blue. Below the entire picture were words written and cut and scratched and rewritten - hapy britda mama!

It was her birthday. 29th of December. She was 22 years old.

Sally didn't stop her tears. She let them flow and fall on the card. She was willing go to Tartarus if they would let her keep the card.

It was pure and utter bliss for a few minutes when it dawned upon her that people couldn't have everything in life. But they were given a chance to see a brightness next to them. A brightness that was the epitome of hope. Something that would spark up someone's life. If a person could see and believe and have some faith in themselves, others and their own lives.

There truly was a silver lining in every dark cloud. Love can be found in a hopeless place. And beauty in the eyes of the beholder is the true joy forever.

* * *

**A bit deep? Yeah. As you can see, I skipped a whole year. I've been thinking about the future chapters and I've decided that I'll put a twist. Something so unexpected that you'll not understand it until the characters themselves talk about it.**

**No spoilers, though! Stay tuned!**

**Cabba.**


	13. The Beginning

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**and all the non-members! Thank you so much for all your support!**

**And now… The twist…**

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own the PJO or HP series. **

* * *

_Brothers of Destiny, ruled by prophecies,_

_Broken chains, gained by tearless eyes,_

_What one lacks, the other receives,_

_Born from when innocence dies._

_Only rebirth shall set them free,_

_Breaking the strength of lies,_

_United by Love so deep,_

_By the hand of Life._

Sally screamed. She woke up from the ground clutching her head as the images disappeared from her mind's eyes. Her throat raw, she opened her eyes bleakly to see herself in an unfamiliar spot.

She choked as she slowly got up from the uneven dirt. Her jeans and shirt were soiled and it was close to pitch dark if not for the waning moon shining through the clouds.

_Where am I? _She thought. Her bone joints ached as if she had been in a stiff position for hours. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, her heart started to beat very fast. She had no idea where she was.

It was a barren land. Hill like structures rose on all sides and she felt like she had been standing in a flat-ish valley. She reached back to get her dagger, but it wasn't there. No, instead, there was something on her hand. Above the elbow of her left hand was a bright bronze bracelet. It glinted faintly in the moonlight.

The metal felt hot against her cold skin. It had several pendants hanging from it. A Cross, small embedded sceneries and others which looked like eroded charms. It felt impure.

Sally tried to remove the bracelet but to her shock, she couldn't. The bracelet was stuck to her skin. She'd never felt something like this. The closest was when some Percy had spilt super glue over the carpet and the fingers were nearly ripped off while pricing them away, but this?

It hit her like a train. Percy! Harry! Where were they? Sally spun around and ran towards the small hedges hoping she'd find them safe and sound. But she couldn't find them.

She felt like screaming. She was in an unknown place. No weapon, no money, a strange bracelet and no clue as to how she got there. She closed her eyes, tight and tried to think back.

It had been ten in the night. Harry was sleeping over because the Dursleys were attending a late-night function. Sally had tucked in the two boys and went into her room.

What happened then?

"Damn it! Think, woman! Try and remember how you got here!" Sally muttered. There was a sudden rustling from the hedges. Sally felt cautious. Hadn't she just checked them?

The leaves suddenly gave way to scores of bats, which flew into the night sky.

"Bats?" She asked herself. None of this made any sense unless…

"I'm dreaming. No, I'm nightmaring. Wake up! You've got the early shift tomorrow. You better not miss it if you want to spend Halloween with Pepe and Pumpkin." Sally pinched her skin hard. She let out a yell and stared at the skin on her forearm. It was turning dark. Suddenly she realized that her skin seemed rather pale. Too pale. It was a ghostly white in colour. They had just come back from the beach a few weeks ago. She had gotten a good tan. Where did that disappear off to?

This was the worst, most realistic nightmare, ever.

Sally decided that she should at least get somewhere safer from this place. She looked up at one of the hills and her eyes were able to squint at the ending of a tarred road. Had that been there before? He climbed towards the upper level and came onto a small road. This small sign of urbanization gave her a bit of hope. She started walking in the downward direction as that was where her gut was telling her to go.

It took hours. She knew that it took hours because she felt very tired, hungry, thirsty and her instincts were screaming at her to run. She was already exhausted and when the Sun had started to rise up from the horizon on her left, she finally spotted a settlement of a sort.

It was a farm. A broken, run-down farm. But there were two old women sitting on an even older bench throwing what looked like bread crumbs to the chicken around.

Sally almost cried in relief. Summoning up the rest of her strength, she ran towards them.

One of them looked up at her. The old lady's expression made Sally stop about three feet away from them.

It was the eyes that froze her. She couldn't tell the colour. She couldn't tell you if they were eyes or not. It could have been two tiny crystal globes which reflected the World's secrets. Every ancient magic, spell, curse and power lay in the eyes of that old woman.

Sally couldn't run away. Her body wouldn't respond to her brain.

From behind what looked like the ruins of a tractor, another withering lady walked slowly towards her companions and sat down. The three of them looked at the mortal in front of them. Sally legs suddenly gave way and she fell on a chair that had apparently appeared right behind her. She tried not to show fear, when she realized who she was facing.

_We bring them from Death's doors to you. Make the best of it. _A voice echoed in her head.

It reverberated so badly that she clamped her hands over her ears and shut her eyes to make it go away. But this only increased the pain and dizziness it caused. When the throbbing disappeared, Sally opened her eyes slowly.

She was alone, sitting on the grass, wet with dew-drops. There was no farm or tractor. None of the powerful Fates lingered behind. The area was desolated except for Sally and a brown paper bag beside her. She had half a mind to grab it and throw up but she realized just in time that it wasn't empty.

There were two apples and a small bottle of water in it. There was a small pouch which had some pounds and change. There was also a piece of paper with the words, 'A mile straight and towards East – LakeWorth Diner.'

The apples and water lasted exactly one mile when Sally reached a resort like diner. The people were shock to hear her moderated ordeal of surviving a car-crash in the middle of the night. They got her help and told her that she was 18 miles away from the city. 12 miles away from Cristy beach where she and her sons would go vacationing every summer and 21 miles from Surrey.

It took them more than two hours to let her go by herself into the city. After much persuasion and a bag of free clothing, food and water, she was able to escape them and soon found herself at Magnolia Crescent where the early morning bus stopped.

She walked over Crescent Bridge. The bridge was above a large river whose source came from somewhere in the forest.

Sally felt her muscles exerted. She walked down the familiar road looking at all the Halloween decorations the houses had put up. Their house was the odd one out. She opened the gate and stopped herself.

For the past few months, there had been a shield very much like the one around the Dursley's house. Weaker than them, but it had been there. She couldn't feel anything now. As if the protection never existed.

A chill descended upon her. She rushed towards the door and took the extra key from below the wilting potted plant. Sally stared at it. Why was the plant close to drying up?

Before she could put the key into the hole, the door swung upon to reveal…

Sally's eyes widened as she stumbled back, the bag falling from her grasp. The boy standing at the door…it couldn't be…

Harry stared at his mother who obviously looked at him in fear. He didn't feel scared. In fact, he didn't feel anything. He knew that she was looking at his skin. His white skin. His dull, haunted eyes which looked like it could deliver death. He was glad that he wasn't her real son. It might have given her a heart attack. Although, she might get one if she saw Percy…

"Mommy!" A voice cried behind him and a small figure jumped onto Sally. She gripped Percy in shock and stumbled. But she steadied herself and looked at her youngest son. He looked almost like Harry's opposite. His eyes were wide and bright. He looked positively hyper at seeing her as if she had gone missing for weeks. It had felt like it. Percy's skin had the same dull white appearance as his elder brother and mother. But he didn't seem to care about that.

"Look, Mommy! We got bracelets!" Percy showed his left hand were there was a bronze bracelet, exactly like the one Sally had. She stared at it.

"We can't remove them." Harry said staring at her keenly to see how much she had changed.

Sally's head reeled. She sat down on the ground and Harry closed the door behind her.

"What happened?" She whispered.

Percy shrugged and said, "Weird dream. Don't rem…remy…uh… forgot everythin'! Woke up in the river! It was cool!"

"The forest has a river. Percy got up from that and I was sitting on the branch of a… tree." Harry explained.

Sally started, "You woke up in the forest? How did you come back?"

"The gate." Percy said like it was no big deal.

"What gate?"

"We'll show you later." Harry said dully.

Sally stared at them. They were five years old. How were they talking so…properly? Like an older person? They looked back at her in an almost calm fashion.

At least, it was Harry who was calm. Percy looked like he had consumed an entire jar of sugar.

The words of the Fates rang through her head.

_We bring them from Death's doors to you. Make the best of it._

They couldn't have been talking about the boys in front of her? What had happened to them? What had brought them to Death's doors? Apparently they were brought back to her.

Sally gulped. Why would the Fates care about them? Was it because Percy was liable to be the child of the Prophecy? What was Harry's role in this? There had to be a catch. They owed the Fates, now.

Sally felt like crying, but no tears came. Harry and Percy would have to sacrifice their lives for the treacherous journey ahead of them. She had no idea what was coming, but she'd be damned if she had no say in it.

She was going to train them. She would get them into fighting techniques, defending themselves, tactic builders, back-up plans for every possible and impossible situations.

She reached back and found her dagger. Pulling it out of its sheath, she showed it to them. They didn't shy away from it. She looked at them steadily in the eyes and said with conviction, "You are going to live. I will make sure of that."

* * *

**Confused! It was a bit dramatic. But this is the end of this story. I've started the sequel which will come next weekend. So…**

**Stay tuned!**

**Cabba.**


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